# Can Mike Huckabee win the GOP nomination and the presidency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 26, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603 "2015-11-26T04:40:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/181 "2015-12-03T19:24:21Z")
Math. Not even once. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/182 "2015-12-03T19:25:41Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > Yes, I know. However, some people have serious issues about the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Some people want honor and tradition, not different waves entering the military. People like some of my friends want that. They want honor back. You should probably stop hanging around these people ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/183 "2015-12-03T19:55:24Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > They would, but they have to be given an answer whether they are loyal to this country to to some other movement. They are worried about the rhetoric of some in the past few years. When they hear some minorities saying things like these articles, they lose a lot of respect for minorities. You should look up the white power movement and ask your “friends” about it. (I’m not going anywhere near those sites at work.) Those assholes resist legitimate government actions - not with word but with guns. Those white people are the least patriotic and most unAmerican people I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/184 "2015-12-04T13:45:17Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > Republicans may do better than Romney’s 20% and McCain’s 24%. The GOP candidate should get 20%-30% percent. The promise to increase the chocolate ration to twenty grams will help with that. > [@GloryDays](#): > > They feel that there is discrimination against white males. Do they also feel that Elvis is alive? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/185 "2015-12-04T14:45:58Z")
I don’t think white voters are abandoning the Democratic Party because of race, at least not consciously. Seems to me that it’s the same trend that was briefly arrested by Bill Clinton’s success. Obama is the rightful heir to Carter’s legacy, with most of the same weaknesses, and the Democratic Party as a whole is reverting back to its 1970s pathologies, so white voters are leaving it. Plus, Clinton doesn’t seem to be making any effort to address any of the concerns white voters have, preferring to maximize turnout among the “coalition of the ascendant”, which may just end up being the “coalition of the moribund” come election day. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/186 "2015-12-04T14:51:54Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t think white voters are abandoning the Democratic Party because of race, at least not consciously. Seems to me that it’s the same trend that was briefly arrested by Bill Clinton’s success. Obama is the rightful heir to Carter’s legacy, with most of the same weaknesses, and the Democratic Party as a whole is reverting back to its 1970s pathologies, so white voters are leaving it. Plus, Clinton doesn’t seem to be making any effort to address any of the concerns white voters have, preferring to maximize turnout among the “coalition of the ascendant”, which may just end up being the “coalition of the moribund” come election day. Unless you think the portion of white voters who opposed Obama only because of his race, and would have supported Bill or Hillary in his place, is near zero, then it seems quite likely that there are some white voters in 08 and 12 who didn’t support Obama but may support Hillary Clinton. I think there’s a small but non-zero percentage of white Democrats who are racist and didn’t vote for Obama because of his race. Maybe 1-5%, and many of these may support Hillary. Maybe not, of course. But we’ll see. I still see very little in your analysis that seems distinguishable from wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/187 "2015-12-04T15:32:55Z")
I would assume that the number of Democrats who are too racist to vote for the black guy will be roughly equal to the number of Democrats who are too sexist to vote for the female. (Although they might not always be the same person.) In both cases, I don’t think it will be enough people to save the Republicans from themselves. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/188 "2015-12-04T19:04:36Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > . . . and the Democratic Party as a whole is reverting back to its 1970s pathologies . . . Such as? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/189 "2015-12-04T21:19:30Z")
Well, all of them! ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/190 "2015-12-05T02:50:42Z")
Soft on crime, wimpy foreign policy, tax and spend… The same issues Republicans trounced them on are back with a vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/191 "2015-12-05T04:36:51Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Soft on crime, wimpy foreign policy, tax and spend… The same issues Republicans trounced them on are back with a vengeance. If the Republicans want to run on more war and dead American soldiers (in addition to throwing people off the health care rolls, and bigotry against immigrants), more power to them. The same issues that the Democrats trounced them on in '08… ---
**Author:** ![GloryDays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GloryDays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GloryDays)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/192 "2015-12-05T21:29:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > \*\*If the Republicans want to run on more war and dead American soldiers \*\*(in addition to throwing people off the health care rolls, and bigotry against immigrants), more power to them. The same issues that the Democrats trounced them on in '08… If the country has to go to a war, it has to go to a war. War should be the last resort, but if it has to happen, it may have to happen. You cannot be weak on military and national security. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/193 "2015-12-05T21:38:42Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > If the country has to go to a war, it has to go to a war. War should be the last resort, but if it has to happen, it may have to happen. You cannot be weak on military and national security. It doesn’t have to happen – not even close. Any invasion will just weaken America, and kill more young people, just like Iraq did. I’m out of the Navy now, but many of my buddies are still in, and I don’t want to see them die for nothing, which is what would happen in another war of choice. The only good reasons for putting a great number of American servicepeople at huge risk are a great threat to the existence of America, or a great threat to an ally for whom we have signed a mutual defense treaty that would require our action. ISIS doesn’t pose anything close to a threat to the existence of America, and doesn’t pose a great threat to any allies that we’ve signed a mutual defense treaty with. And there’s no realistic chance that it will become so in the next few years – after that, we can re-evaluate (or if things change otherwise, obviously). But going in now would weaken us hugely. I don’t want a weaker America – so I oppose an invasion. If your position is invading the Middle East again, then you are the one who is weak on military and national security. That’s the weak position – mine is the strong one. ---
**Author:** ![GloryDays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GloryDays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GloryDays)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/194 "2015-12-05T22:34:26Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It doesn’t have to happen – not even close. Any invasion will just weaken America, and kill more young people, just like Iraq did. I’m out of the Navy now, but many of my buddies are still in, and I don’t want to see them die for nothing, which is what would happen in another war of choice. > > The only good reasons for putting a great number of American servicepeople at huge risk are a great threat to the existence of America, or a great threat to an ally for whom we have signed a mutual defense treaty that would require our action. ISIS doesn’t pose anything close to a threat to the existence of America, and doesn’t pose a great threat to any allies that we’ve signed a mutual defense treaty with. And there’s no realistic chance that it will become so in the next few years – after that, we can re-evaluate (or if things change otherwise, obviously). > > But going in now would weaken us hugely. I don’t want a weaker America – so I oppose an invasion. If your position is invading the Middle East again, then you are the one who is weak on military and national security. That’s the weak position – mine is the strong one. Have you not seen what the couple in California do? They were affiliated with ISIS. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/195 "2015-12-05T22:40:13Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > Have you not seen what the couple in California do? They were affiliated with ISIS. So what? Going to war will kill way, way more Americans than that attack (or several of them) could. They were affiliated just means they liked ISIS – other Americans may like ISIS, and in addition to getting my buddies killed, another war in the Middle East could just inspire more and more people in America to kill. Your plan results in more dead Americans – way, way more dead Americans. Attacking ISIS does nothing to dissuade domestic terrorist attacks from people living in America. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/196 "2015-12-05T23:08:46Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > Have you not seen what the couple in California do? They were affiliated with ISIS. Have you given up the pretense that you are passing on the views of your “friends”? ---
**Author:** ![GloryDays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GloryDays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GloryDays)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/197 "2015-12-05T23:14:12Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Have you given up the pretense that you are passing on the views of your “friends”? Frank, I just want to feel safe. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/198 "2015-12-05T23:20:13Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > Frank, I just want to feel safe. That’s all. What will make me feel safe is having someone with a basic respect for science and integrity in the White House, not someone who thinks magic works and can be applied to our foreign policy. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/199 "2015-12-05T23:51:24Z")
> [@GloryDays](#): > > Frank, I just want to feel safe. That’s all. If my friends dying in the desert would make you feel safe, then perhaps you need to re-evaluate what your safety needs are. ---
**Author:** ![GloryDays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GloryDays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GloryDays)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603/200 "2015-12-06T00:00:51Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If my friends dying in the desert would make you feel safe, then perhaps you need to re-evaluate what your safety needs are. I feel your pain. But, these are desperate times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-mike-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination-and-the-presidency/738603.md?page=11)